Hello world, goodby privacy?

The other day I googled my eighteen month old son’s name to see how often it would occur and whether one of these hits would really link to him. He did show up, not unexpected, but to my surprise not at an URL I had once created myself. Long ago I posted a few videos for his grandparents living abroad. I guess I forgot to check the ‘private’ box, since they now popped up on a different site amongst advertisements and “cute girls from Amsterdam”.

Apart from the anger that my content was somehow stolen, or “leeched” as they call it on this specific website, I wondered whether one can control one’s own online history. This example probably shows one cannot.

That’s a rather serious issue. Once you realize that everything you do on the internet will eventually lead a life of its own, you’ll think twice. Especially on all these web 2.0 websites and communities made to join, share and exchange.

Maybe it’s too early to tell what all the consequences will be, but imagine this 16 year old kid sharing, blogging and uploading all kind of ‘cool’ stuff with his friends. By the time he graduates from university and applies for a serious job, all of a sudden he’s confronted with his “cool” period. Sounds like the equivalent of a very visible tattoo you can’t hide. It might have been really trendy once upon a time, but now that it’s starting to wrinkle (along with your skin), it's rather embarrassing. Okay, so nowadays you can have the tattoo remove by laser, but to get rid of your internet history is a lot harder.

The question is whether we can oversee what will happen to everything we share out there. How will it affect us in the future; will it work for, or against us. I consider this to be a question we should give some serious thought, before blurting out whatever crosses our mind. realise everything I do will add up to my online profile.

Sure, the answer could be to have yourself represented by an avatar or to just stay anonymous. But that’s like going to a masquerade ball. It’s really hard to get to know anybody, if we all wear these masks. So if you'd like to share more than just superficial comments, it’s natural to let yourself be known.

I guess my son won’t be harmed. He’s cute, very appealing and just over 1 1/2 years old. I couldn’t think of a better promotion when going for a job interview!

Carbon footprint

With every tsunami, mudslide or hurricane we are confronted with our daily changing environment. To make people aware of their own role in these changes we introduced the carbon footprint years ago. Your personal footprint shows the contribution of your daily actions, whether that is travel, or eating meat, on the production of CO2.

I guess we all realize that keeping the internet up and running costs electricity, and that producing electricity also produces CO2, but do we have a clue how much? What for instance is the impact of this post to this blogs footprint? Time for help, time for tools.

CO2Stats lets you track the carbon dioxide emissions of your website, blog or individual posting. This services calculates the carbon footprint of your web activities, based on the amount of traffic.

There is a pro version with detailed overviews and a fairly simple widget as shown here.

I decided to just use a screenshot; otherwise I could really see how many of you read this blog and help me to enlarge my footprint.

OLPC XO-2

Last night I checked out the redesign of the OLPC-XO. The low budget machine turned into a real nice to have gadget. Let me sum up few remarkable specifications of this XOXO or XO-2 as it is called:

· Dual 16x9 proportioned sunlight-readable touch screens.
· Keyboard and touchpad both replaced by touch screens.
· Physically smaller than XO-1; size and weight more like a book.
· 1 watt power consumption.

Combine these specs with the OLPC concept itself and you have a powerful and good looking machine.

Although I think OLPC is a wonderful initiative and the people behind it are really upright I wonder whether it will ever by a success. The new design doesn't take my doubts away, the opposite, it strengthens them. Isn't it too slick, too fancy? Don't we think a starving kid from a 3rd world slums would rather sell it for a few dollars or find something to eat then connect to his local network?

Exhibitionist’s playground?

We all dream about our 15 minutes of fame, but I guess only a few of us will get a real taste of it in the end. It takes hard work or a special talent, the right contacts or good looks, a bit of luck or a good idea. Just the dream itself won't get you there.

But does this also apply to the internet and to people posting, blogging, commenting, replying and sharing? Looking at a random community or forum, you’d get the idea we all have something important and unique to say or share. But is this really sharing, do we really have that much interesting stuff to talk about? Isn't it just our way of seeking fame?

Sure, some people have something to say, and yes, the internet is a great stage. But how about millions and millions of hollow comments and ten thousands of images and videos that probably only matter to their owner? I know it's a bold statement, but hasn't the internet become an exhibitionist’s playground? Having said so, I wonder who's really watching. Is there really someone out there, or have we become so isolated and self-centered that we don't mind anymore? Did we become so arrogant to think we don't have to reflect and think things over, but that we can bring up whatever we want, whenever we want to?

The funny thing about the internet is that it seems an everlasting archive. So for those of you who seek fame: go on, expose yourselves! Maybe it will bring you the desired fame, and if so, it’s going to last a lot longer than 15 minutes.

Christmas wishlist

For all you design freaks out there: now is a good time to start your Christmas wish list.


Maybe it doesn't perform as well as you would expect from its price tag, but who cares? It looks great, it’s absolutely exclusive and you can say you own a MacBook.


Keeping in mind that an OLPC-XO is donated with every purchase, this makes it the perfect Christmas gift.

Spaghetti

From time to time I take a few minutes to clean up my desk. Very seldom I find the courage to look underneath. Although there’s this cable raceway it's still an enormous mess of wires, connectors and outlets. It’s no use organizing it: shortly after I always seem to have a change in my configuration that messes things up again. Out of gloominess I decided to stick to the top of my desk.
But maybe there’s hope. Last week I found the solution: the table that organizes everything for you. Everything? Well, going by these images I have to say nearly everything.

Now I have a new problem: how to convince my family that I really need this.

Yamalube

With the nice summer weather of the last few weeks you can’t miss the sound of motorcycles cruising around. The bikes are polished and taken out of their garages for the start of the biking season. For some Indi’s this is the end of a period of hard working on a Flex and Tridion application called Yamalube. Indivirtual created and developed from scratch an awesome application for Yamaha Motor Europe which allows visitors to see the product range of care and maintenance products for their bike. And that’s convenient at the start of the biking season! Happy Driving!

A five-ton 'computer'

In our daily life we hardly realize how many tasks, functions and services around us are computerized. From early dawn till well after dark we use devices like laptops and cell phones like there was no life before them. But although we seem to travel at the speed of light through evolution, we only have to glance over our shoulder to realize that history is not that far away.

Charles Babbage was an English mathematician, philosopher and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable computer. Just over 150 years ago he designed his Difference Engine #2, an all-mechanical calculator. Back then it was too expensive and complicated to really build the calculator that holds over 8000 parts. It stayed conceptual…. until now. The Difference Engine #2 has been built, and it works!

The five-ton bronze, steel and cast iron contraption is operated by a crank handle and can calculate the results of elaborate trigonometric and logarithmic functions with 31 digits of precision. Furthermore it has a printer function, since Babbage worried that mistakes would be made by humans transcribing the results from its 31 metal output wheels.

The Difference Engine #2 is a astonishing calculator, and Charles Babbage in retrospect an even greater genius. Still, I’m glad his machine evolved into the microchips we have nowadays. Can you imagine what your iPod would look like, based on Babbages concept?

Copyrights question

About a decade ago, libraries around the world began digitizing their books. These digitized libraries serve two purposes. First of all they make books available to a wider audience today. Secondly they’re a great way to preserve very old, unique or precious copies for future generations.

About four years ago Google not only joined the initiative, but also started their own Book Search. At Google they developed a scanning procedure especially for the most vulnerable books. This procedure is hidden in a shroud of mystery, Google won’t disclose any information about it. Around 1 million books have been scanned so far, Google says another 6 million to go.

All these books are thoroughly indexed and can be searched at books.google.com. The search results can be sorted in a list view or as book covers. Small portions of the book can be opened to check whether it's really what you've been looking for. If the book isn’t protected by copyright, users can download the whole thing. If it is protected, or if users want to read an original, they can use Book Search to find copies to buy or borrow.

Another great Google tool that opens up a whole new world!

I wonder what the catch is for Google. Spending years and years to scan all these books must cost a fortune and just making them available to the public domain will not make them a penny. I wonder whether they will start to charge us by the time they’ve scanned everything worth collecting. That in itself brings up the question whether Google will be locking up the public domain in the end. Will they get a kind of new claimed copyrights by putting in that much time and effort? Would this mean they won’t share these books the way they are shared right now amongst libraries? Interesting questions, I haven’t seen no answers so far…